Replying to a message of Ardith Hinton to Bob Ackley:

 AH>           Now I have a question for you.  Has your outlook on life
 AH> changed as a result of this experience??  I'll show you mine if you
 AH> show me yours... [grin].

I hadn't really thought about it.  I suppose that other than the recognition
up-close-and-personal that life is finite I'd say no.  I guess most people
assume it'll go on forever or don't think about it at all.  So my awareness
of an ending is probably higher than most folks'.  My dad, a heavy smoker
(and drinker in his last years) died at 81 in 2002, all of his brothers (none
of whom smoked) died at about the same age so I guess that's about when
my time will come absent some other intervention.  I'm 62 now, so I guess
I've got about 20 more years.

BTW, dad lived in (or rather, in a development just outside of) Sequim, WA.
Just a hop, skip and jump from you (compared to the wilds of the southwest
corner of Iowa, where I am now).

About the only thing I wish I'd done differently is finding a sweet young thing
to share things with 40 years ago.  The dogs (there are 8, I go through a 40
pound sack of dog food in about 3 days; 7 are 1.5 year old litter-mates and the
8th is their father, all are lab mixes) are nice to have around (except for the one
that INSISTS that the bed is hers ), but they can't talk and
mostly just want
to be petted - and they can't take care of themselves when I'm not around, which
is a problem out here in the boonies where my nearest neighbor is 1/4 mile away.

The other problem with living alone out here is that if I manage to hurt or
disable myself, help is *not* next door - a point I have to keep in mind when
I'm climing on ladders, for instance (I do have to paint the house this summer,
and it's a 2 story house).  But that's more due to a lifestyle choice than it
is to having survived cancer and a near heart attack.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+